Tagged with " garden"

Views of our house and garden

Oct 4, 2012 by     5 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Gardening, photos

San Martín de Trevejo, this is our new home. Here are a few photos of the garden and the front of the house so you can get a better idea how we live. The sides of the house are lined with grape vines… so many grapes!

This is the front of our house.

Taken from the office window

This was taken from the far end of the garden. The bottom door is to the garage, above that is the window to the office and the balcony off our bedroom.

 

Canning meat for Anita

Jul 31, 2011 by     12 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Canning/Preserving, food, Gardening

Here’s what I canned this week to take to Anita’s house when the baby is born:

  • 7 jars of meatballs in beef onion broth
  • 3 jars of meatballs in tomato sauce
  • 16 jars of ground beef  with taco flavor
  • 5 jars of pork chipote
  • 4 jars of cubed pork
  • 14 jars of cubed beef
  • 4 jars of chicken breasts
  • 3 jars of chicken chipote

We’ll be driving to France this week to help out for a week. We are standing by the phone to hear the  good news that the baby has arrived.

I’ll also be taking up plenty of produce from the wee patch of garden I have in the backyard.

Lots of green beans from the garden!

Jun 29, 2011 by     1 Comment     Posted under: food, Gardening, saving money

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2011 Summer Garden

Jun 10, 2011 by     No Comments    Posted under: blessings, food, gallery, Grocery Challenge

This is my parcel. It’s grows abundantly and is a combination of parsley and celery.

I have planted 20 tomato plants. We’ll have lots of gazpacho this year!

We’ve already eaten some of these delicious beans. The chickens like to eat the leaves too!

 

 


Weighing in on Tomatoes

Jul 21, 2010 by     2 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Gardening, Grocery Challenge, saving money

This year, I’ve decided that I will weigh all of the tomatoes that are growing in my little garden. So far, early in the tomato picking season, I have picked:

598 grams or 1lb. 3oz. It’s a start!

July 26th, 2010: New TOTAL

2 kilos 898 grams or 6 lbs 3 oz. Making gazpacho today!

July 31st, 2010: New TOTAL (so far)

5 kilos 598 grams or  12lbs. 3 oz.

August 3rd, 2010: New TOTAL (so far)

9 kilos 253 grams or 20lbs. 3oz

August 7th 2010: New Total

16kilos 624 grams or 36lbs 12.5 oz


I’ve planted 4 varieties this year:

Roma

Muchamiel

3 cantos

cherry

Gardening

Jun 4, 2010 by     7 Comments    Posted under: blessings, Gardening, Grocery Challenge, photos, saving money

I’m very encouraged by my little efforts with my garden. Again, I only have a small patch of land in the back yard, but I’m determined Read more »

My wee garden

Apr 6, 2010 by     No Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Gardening, Grocery Challenge

It’s just been so interesting to see the climate changes here in Spain. I remember when it was said that there were about 330 sunny days in Spain. Well, for the past few years, that has been reduced to about half! We have had winters, 3 years in a row of snow and very rainy and cold days. I hope that things will go back to ‘normal’ in the years to come.

In any case, we’ve had some sun this past week, and I’m thankful! It’s a pleasure to go out a couple times a day to tend to my garden and get some fresh air and warmth from the sun.

John and I are eating lots of ‘greens’… you know, swiss chard, mustard greens and the like. I make a cream of green soup we both enjoy and I personally like to eat them raw. They taste so good and fresh! I even have enough to send to our neighbors across the street.

Jalapeño Peppers

Feb 2, 2010 by     No Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Gardening, Grocery Challenge, recipes, Spain

New Seeds to plant

It´s time to start my Jalapeño peppers indoor! Our friends Tom and Jeanne, sent me this fantastic seed catalog and offered to send me seeds. I chose 2: peppers and kale (see photo). These peppers are extra large and good for canning, which is my intention. Since  hot peppers and not available in Spain, I would like to can them and also can enough Mexican salsa to last 1 year.


Starting my tomato plants

Jan 14, 2010 by     2 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Gardening, Grocery Challenge, saving money

tomato plantsI’ve started 2 trays of tomato seeds.  Can you see the 2 tiny little sprouts? One in a plum tomato and the other a large tomato called ‘muchamiel’  and these tomatoes have red bottoms and green tops. Last year the only ones that did well, were the cherry tomatoes, of which I will plant more of this year too.  I had cherry tomatoes until December! All we needed was a few everyday! Also, I save all the containers our meat comes in from the market and use these to start my seeds in.

One Week Sample Menu

May 31, 2009 by     No Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Gardening, recipes, saving money

bread

For Kim who requested one of my sample menus:

*we have our largest meal mid-day at 2pm and we eat lighter in the evening at 8pm

** this is how I actually write out my menus for the week. I include page #’s and the name of the cookbook, and if guests are coming, I would add a dessert. Since we frequently have friends over, the leftover desserts usually will last the rest of the week.

*** Next to this menu I keep a grocery list, remembering 1st to ‘shop’ in my pantry.

Monday:

Dinner:

1st: Cream of Chicken Soup with bread (both homemade)

2nd Meat-Potato Quiche (p 158 More with Less Cookbook:You can buy this from Amazon.com via this blog. Just click: Bobbie’s store, ‘cookbooks & canning’, page 6)

Salad (picked from my garden)

Supper:

Chicken Teriyaki (seasoning from a packet)

Egg rolls (frozen)

Salad (picked from my garden)

Tuesday

Dinner:

1st: Left over Cream of Chicken soup

2nd:Steaks (take out of freezer from the piece I bought at Christmas)

Potatoes & fava beans (beans from garden)

Spinach (frozen)

Supper:

Fried Rice (cut up leftover Chicken Teriyaki & egg + veggies)

Salad

Wednesday:

Dinner:

1st: Cream of potato & fava bean soup (made from leftover side dish) & Bread

2nd- Beef Hash (leftover steak from Tuesday) & fried eggs

Toast (from bread made on Tuesday)

Salad (from garden & homemade salad dressing)

Supper:

Leftover Potato Soup & Homemade Toast

Thursday:

Dinner:

1st Bean Soup with bread

2nd: Chicken Cheese Casserole (p 124 More with Less Cookbook)

Green Beans

Supper:

Meat-Potato Quiche (leftover from Monday)

Salad (from garden & homemade salad dressing )

Friday:

Dinner:

1st:Cream of Spinach Soup (made from leftover spinach on Tuesday)

2nd; Pizza Rice Casserole (p 129 More with Less cookbook) *use canned hamburger

Navajo Fry Bread (p More with Less Cookbook)

Salad (from garden & homemade salad dressing)

Supper:

Creamed Eggs over Homemade Toast

Sausage (canned)

Saturday:

Dinner:

1st:Cream of Tomato soup (canned tomatoes)

2nd: Sloppy Joes over Homemade toast

Salad (from garden & homemade salad dressing)

Supper:

Bean Soup (leftover from Thursday)

Navajo Fry Bread (leftover from Friday) page 83 of More with Less cookbook

Sunday:

Dinner:

1st:Chicken Noodle Soup (made from the chicken I cup up and stewed last Thursday) with Homemade Croutons (end of loaf)

2nd: Buffalo Wings

French Fries (cooked in Olive oil)

Salad (from garden & homemade salad dressing)

Supper:

Pizza Rice Casserole (left over from Friday)

Salad (from garden & homemade salad dressing)

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Fava Beans

May 22, 2009 by     1 Comment     Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, Grocery Challenge, saving money

Here are the results of my efforts:

Fava plants Fava; 2nd planting Picked Favas cooked fava beans

1st planting                       2nd planting                   harvested beans                 cooked beans with ham

A new month with new challenges

Oct 6, 2008 by     1 Comment     Posted under: Blogroll, Grocery Challenge

Thank you for your prayers for us! Aren’t these interesting times? We feel sometimes that we have so many challenges & trials but even in the midst of those, we know that in the Lord there is always hope. I continue to find ways to save on the ‘ol grocery budget. Some budget items have been lowered, while others have been raised, like house and fuel costs. Here are some of the “new moves” we have made:

  1. we’re now unplugging the water/house heating unit during the day (it’s a diesel fuel tank we have filled) and just turn it on for our showers at night/ wear sweaters in the house.
  2. we try to run any errands only once a week
  3. John fixed the dishwasher! This saved us at least 100€
  4. the garden is growing… we are hoping for a “crop” soon
  5. eating a lot more legumes
  6. eating less meat
  7. buying ONLY the 30% off meat and poultry (that is out of code the next day)
  8. I bought enough broccoli on sale last week to last about 4 months. I will blanch and freeze it today after I give my English class to the neighbor kids (ministry, not a job)

Bummers of the week:

  1. the heating system needed a new part that cost us 100€ ($145)…ugh
  2. this is a bummer/blessing: a couple in our church is getting married and the customs are different here. We each give the money for the meal that is held after the wedding ceremony at a restaurant ( at least 60€ for each person… this is a 5or 6 course meal) + we add the money for the gift for the couple on top of that. Weddings are great…. but boy are they expensive in Spain. My friends are all talking about going out to buy their new outfits and getting their hair done the day of the wedding. I will wear something I already have, and do my own hair! We all have these “unexpected expenses” that we deal with.

We hope that you are seeing victory in your lives and are feeling hopeful.

* I tried to upload some photos but I am getting an error message. I’ll try again later.

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